Dubai Pets

We currently have far too many pets in both Dubai and Budapest. In Dubai we have 1 cat and 3 dogs. 

In Budapest we have Betty and Gigi. I'll post about them shortly.

First, here is Oswald (aka Ozzie) with his reindeer ears. He is so ugly and so cute at the same time. He turns 1 in January. Note to self, look up his date of birth. PS He was born in Hungary.

Coco, our elf (right below), is a silly Dubai desert rescue. She is so timid and afraid of her own shadow but craves attention and love all the time. 

Lucky is the alpha of the group - when Daisy isn't around - and another Dubai desert rescue. We thought Lucky would be a small to medium sized dog but he grew and grew and grew. He's lovely but also a bit protective so friends who visit know his bark. Below is a photo of him with Ozzie. For some reason we thought it would be funny to have Lucky wear my dragon boat team top. I think blue suits him! Paddles Ready!

Early on, after Oswald joined our family and Lucky started accepting him, we would (and still do) find Ozzie taking cover underneath Lucky. He fits perfectly. Sometimes he cleans (yes, ewwwww!) and sometimes he just hides.

Daisy is our cat and she is the best cat we have ever owned. She is super cool and friendly, spends her nights outdoors (so we don't wake up with her running across our faces or to her howling at 4am), doesn't jump up and eat our food and leaves our Christmas tree, water glasses and fragile items alone. 

Photo below on left is Daisy and Ozzie about one month after Ozzie joined our family. Daisy took the longest time to accept him and he was so afraid and curious of Daisy.  Every day he inched a bit closer. Today, about 4 months later, they can lay on the same couch as each other and she doesn't hiss at him if he touches her.

The other photo is one of my usual views when I come out of my bedroom and look down into the kids' TV room. Terence in his element (when he is home from school): food, video games, laptop, animals. Usually he has Daisy and one or all dogs surrounding him. His sunnies are nearby as he probably just got home or about to go out. 

This last one is a video. Love it as it captures how I dog walk. Ozzie is off the lead / leash but has to take part so instead he likes to keep either Lucky or Coco's leash in his mouth. It's his attempt of either being in charge or being part of the pack. I have yet to work it out but find it amusing. He goes for Coco's leash more than Lucky's as I think Lucky is bit too tall and he has trouble jumping up to reach it.

Happy Birthday Uncle Robert

As I mentioned, Uncle Robert's birthday fell on the same day as we celebrated our 2017 Christmas. Here is a little message the kids sent him. I accidentally thought they were done and cut off the best part, "I love you". But, he knows that.

Robert turned 57 in December!

Early Christmas

Due to our trip this year to Vietnam, we celebrated Christmas a bit early. We had our Christmas celebration on December 18th (also on Robert's birthday). Our departure to Hanoi, Vietnam was on December 20th at 3:30am on Emirates flight EK394. So technically we had to head to the airport at about midnight on the 19th.  This made December 18th our best option for an at home Christmas celebration.

Christmas was lovely and, as always in Dubai, feels a bit strange in t-shirts and shorts. I had put up the tree this year before Thanksgiving which I have never done before but as we found a lovely large artificial (slightly white to give it a snow dusted appearance) tree, it was easy to do without all the maintenance of a live tree. 

With all the kids now knowing the 'truth' about Santa and his magic, the presents started to pile up under the tree in the weeks and days leading up to our Christmas celebration on the 18th. This heightened the excitement and made it all easier and more fun to celebrate early.

The hardest thing for the kids (mostly Ali and Mia) was that I didn't allow them to wake up on the 18th and open presents right away - as we always do on Christmas morning. Part of the reason why was it was still a work day so Curt left before they all woke up. I did my usual 'mom' activities and hit the gym then finalized shopping for all the food items, breakfast treats (knowing they wouldn't wake until late morning when I was due back home), and last minute holiday necessities (including a few last minute stocking stuffers I had forgotten).

When I returned home, I only heard a bit of shuffling from our trio upstairs so they were all treated to a special breakfast in bed. I wish I had taken pictures as their breakfasts were all served up on Christmas plates and included all sorts of yummy foods that they all loved including some delicious fresh fruits, freshly baked croissants and donuts (from Baker and Spice) and for Mia her favorite avocados. She can eat avocados all day and night. 

Normally on Christmas morning I make home made cinnamon rolls but with all the travels I had been doing and about to do and Christmas presents still to wrap and dinner still to prepare, the Baker and Spice treat seemed like the perfect breakfast treat and they were all very happy!

Curt returned home at about 4:30pm with the last of the presents that just arrived via post. Phew, that was a close call! I was still at the dentist with Ali (really not a normal 'Christmas day') but made it home just after 5pm to do a quick 45 minute packing job and dinner preparation. 

Dinner consisted of amazing grade 11 wagyu steaks prepared by Curt on the charcoal grill, mashed potatoes, broccoli, green beans, tomato salad and home made dinner rolls. We all gobbled it up and the kids were bouncing around ready to open our presents before we even had a chance to clear the table.

We decided to leave our dessert of homemade Angel Food Cake for after our present opening. 

Below are some of my favorite photos of our tree and the kids. In the next post (may work out to be previous post as it's been a while since I blogged), I'll post a few more pics from the day. 

Ali's Mime Impression

No idea where she saw or learned this but this was a show she thought would be fun a couple months ago. Thought I would share...

Ali today

This is Ali today at 9 years old. She is so pleased with the trousers that Mia bought (and negotiated for) on her recent Week Without Walls trip to Nepal. 

Flashback to 2011 (Ali video)

I just came across this sweet video of little Ali in October 2011. She was 5 1/2 years old and keen to become a good swimmer. She learned by watching her big brother and big sister. Shortly after this she started lessons and got better and better (and stronger and stronger) at all her strokes.

Love these little treasures that take me back in time. Today Ali is 9 years and 1.5 months old. As fun as she is now, a little part of me really misses this little girl in the video!

Clements Girls skiing (Dec 2014)

Here are a few short clips of my our girls skiing in Meribel last month. 

Mia (in the 2nd video) is harder to spot as there are more people. Look for her in the blue jacket and bright orange ski pants.

A Great Long Sunday Lunch at our Friends' Home

We had a great long lunch with our friends up the road. They actually have 7 (SEVEN) children! 3 out of their 4 eldest are away in England at either university or working. Their 3rd eldest has just moved back as she is doing an internship at KPMG and living back at home during it. They have a son who is nearly done with high school then a HUGE gap followed by Keira (8 years old) and Eliana (nearly 4 years old). Great family and Ali and Keira adore each other.

The adults

Mia with Keira and Eliana

Their house as we looked back to wave good-bye

These next photos are of the four girls who were fighting a sugar high from all the beautiful desserts that Amanda prepared: Sticky Toffee Pudding, Chocolate Brownies, Blackberry Crumble and Orange Poppy Seed Cake. All soooo good!

 

 

Budapest Sofa vs Floor

Maybe this is why Curt moves onto the floor all the time. Not sure who took the one of me sleeping on the sofa last night. It was after a great long lunch at the Majlath's home. Friends of ours for ages. 

I love Ali with our cat, Mickey, and Mia sound asleep next to her. It's still early but we are full on with lots of hiking and reunions with friends and brains having to work things out in Hungarian again.

PS Mickey must be about 17 years old now! He says he misses Papa.

  

Some Things Will Never Change

Some things just never change. My hubster is nearly 50 and he still prefers lying on the floor to work, watch TV, etc. Must remember to get some bean bags for our home in Budapest. It simply doesn't matter how comfortable our sofas are, he just prefers the floor. Love this photo of him with our dog, Blue (9 years old) and the roaring fire. Temps outside in Budapest now are high teens / low 20s celsius but we do love (and miss) our fires...

Terence - Football

I don't ever get many photos of Terence. The girls are a bit better about the camera. However, I got this one of T last week after dropping him off for football training. Doesn't he look like a man? He is so big (nearly 6 feet tall) and only 13 years old. His shoe size is 45 - 46 EU!

Mia's Pre-Teen Friday

So our Mia (12 in January; going on 16 1/2) and I organized a little girlie weekend fun on Friday. She's actually pretty good about the weekend hang outs. She is at school for such long hours and we all seem to run around all week long as we are all full on with activities * that our weekend time is really reserved for family-time. I love our family time and have actually steered away from weekend adult activities as I really just, plain and simple, love hanging with my hubby and kids on the weekends. 

You may or may not know but we never had an 11th birthday party for our MiMi. We started a birthday tradition with our kids ages ago that every birthday they have a choice of:

A. Birthday party with friends. 

We set the limit of friends and budget (which we almost always seem to go over in expensive Dubai).

B. Dinner alone with mom and dad at a restaurant of their choosing. 

Terence always picks B since his 8th birthday.

Mia knew she wanted a party but couldn't decide where, with who, when. Our weekends were always packed and every time we detected a reasonable weekend, she seemed to get an invite to another friend's birthday at that exact time. 

Long story short, it eventually became too late. To make up for it, I asked her if she'd like a girlie afternoon with some of her best mates. She jumped at the opportunity.

We started with a lovely late lunch with her group and then walked over to this amazing newish hot spot called BOUNCE. It's an indoor trampoline park and the children all love it. Especially in this Dubai heat. The evening ended just after 8pm and the girls all had an amazing time. Mission accomplished. 

Walking from lunch to Bounce.

Getting their wrist bands which allows them entry.

6 of them (and 2 others) awaiting the start of a game of dodge ball.

Mia and her besties (2 couldn't make it) and sister, Ali.

And a video of some of their dodge ball fun.

Friday Night

We were out on Thursday night at a friend's and didn't get home until quite late. I think our entire family finally made it to bed just before midnight. Therefore, this is what the girls looked like on Friday evening during family movie night (in).

PS our weekend in Dubai is Friday and Saturday.

Fun Weekend Stuff

The best parts of the weekend were on Thursday night and Saturday (all day).

On Thursday, our family hit one of our favorites spots for dinner: Ruth's Chris. I only have a few photos of the girls from this evening as we were so busy chatting, eating, enjoying the evening that I didn't take any other snaps. I had to take the first one of them, on the escalator after dinner, as I looked up and suddenly saw two young ladies. Where are my little girlies? At the top of the escalator, I took the 2nd photo of our gorgeous girls.

 

On Saturday, I surprised our family with a trip to the Wild Wadi water park. It was a fantastic day and a great way to stay cool in the 40+ degree Celsius desert heat.

Chilling in the shade in between water slides.

Our little cabana tucked away.  It was perfect. 

Terence napping after about 5 or 6 hours of water slide fun.

 

 And a few more of the girls. The first is of them watching the surfing which they later took turns on (photos coming) and temporary tattoo time! The fun was non-stop. We spent our entire day from 10:30 until about 7:30 enjoy the water park and our family time.

Fulfilling Weekend

Today is Saturday, 9:03pm and tomorrow is the start of a new week. Our work / school week here is Sunday - Thursday. 1 of 2 of the children are asleep. That would be Ali who a. needs the most sleep (probably because she is the youngest), and b. gets collected by her bus an hour earlier than the other two. Her bus actually comes at 6:40am so if she is not asleep by 8pm then she is a wreck in the morning.

Mia has just finished her homework, via Face Chat and Skype with a friend and T is chilling (on his laptop so probably watching Netflix) as his homework was done earlier today while we were out and about running errands.

Here are a few photos that encompass our weekend. 

Thursday I surprised little Ali by picking her up from school. I received a call earlier in the day that her 2 school books were in stock and ready for pick up. I had to order 2 out of the 5 from the book store. The other 3 were found amongst Mia's (or T's) stack of old school books from the French school. Sadly, I always leave this annual task to the last minute and she always has to start the new year with some or none of her school books as these French school books take about 4 weeks to ship into Dubai. Terence and Mia used to go through the same fun, challenge every start to each new school year but now they are at a school where the books are provided.

Anyhow, she was so excited for my surprise pick up and then our surprise book collection. She didn't like starting the school year not being 100% prepared even though it is an understanding situation.

My happy book worm gets all her books at last! PS Notice her new school uniform.

Then, we paid a visit to ACE Hardware to start our hunt for paints for the new house. This was the first, but not last over the weekend.

We visited again today. Ali is asking her dada which color paint sample he likes the best. 

Our helpful girls at our new house.

  

   

Lots of measuring, paint samples and my new electric measuring unit! 

We Have a New Soccer Player in the House

Guess who has joined a soccer (a.k.a. 'football' as it's known outside of America) league in Dubai? Our little Alexandra.

After a week at a summer 'soccer' camp before the new school year started (along with her brother and sister), Ali developed a passion for the sport. So much that she begged for me to enroll her into the league regularly. Last night was her first hour lesson at the indoor facility in Al Quoz. I took her (early) and upon arriving discovered she was the only GIRL in the group. I didn't mention it as I didn't want to draw extra attention to this fact and decided to let Ali form her own opinion about the group dynamics. Fortunately, she never mentioned it so it apparently didn't seem to faze her at all. Phew!

Unfortunately, I couldn't stay to watch her for more than 15 mins as I had child #2 (Mia) to collect from her swim squad try outs. However, I did manage to capture a few (not so clear) snaps and a very short video clip. 

Dad collected her at 6pm and she arrived home so excited and so pumped about her new beloved sport. She kicked the ball around the house and practiced tricks and drills with Curt until bedtime. Then, she took her new (part of her new kit from the league) mini-soccer ball to bed and introduced it to her bed full of cuddly animals (photos of this scene coming soon) where it remained all night. Now that is what I call DEDICATION!

PS Dad is so happy to finally have a passionate soccer player in our home!

  

PS She now needs new shoes for soccer. 

Terence and his Samsung Galaxy's Reunion in Dubai

Thanks Papa for sending Terence's smart phone that he left in Wichita in August. Silly boy. He is obviously far too confident that his mom and dad will look out for his things as he's still slightly forgetful about where he keeps / puts his personal possessions.

Regardless, the phone made it in the post to our office on Sunday and didn't get stolen in transit. He tore into it in the car park at (GWA) school when I collected him on Sunday afternoon.  As soon as he got home he charged it up and is now a very happy camper. He even called me 3 times from it yesterday and none of the calls were accidental (i.e he often butt-dials us while he is playing football or soccer at recess with his friends).

More Extra-Curricular Activities

Today from 4-5pm (after school) Emilia will be at the U14 (grades 6, 7 and 8) swim squad try outs. Last year she made the team for the Elementary (Primary) school and we were so excited for her. This year she is trying out again. Then, on Wednesday, she will try out for the U14 Girls Volleyball team. Keep your fingers crossed! 

Here is a short clip of her trying out last year. She is so strong!

More Ice Dumping

I forgot to include Ali's ice bucket challenge. She was the first to do it. Isn't she great? I think her leg itch was due to be nervous...

Activities Resume this week

Terence has resumed (American) Football Training. Four hours today! He plays on the Barracuda team with EAFL (Emirates American Football League) and loves every minute of it... 

The amazing field house

Lots of space for training

Moving slowly after a tough, long practice. Time now for homework.

And this is what the girls do as we wait for him to finish up.